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Whose Charter is it anyway?
Never before in the 29 years since the Pierce County Charter was written has ANY council put amendments on the ballot, yet the current council has put 12 amendments on the ballot since it was last reviewed by the Charter Review Commission in 2005-06 (which put only 9 amendments on the ‘06 ballot).
This Council, with the exception of councilmember Joyce McDonald, put 8 amendments on the 2007 ballot, 1 amendment on the 2008 ballot, and these 3 amendments on the 2009 ballot.
These three should be named Amendments 37, 38 and 39 – not 1, 2, 3.
The Council’s 12 amendments in past three years equals nearly half of all the amendments made to our US Constitution in more than 200 years (a total of 27 amendments).
So whose Charter is it? It’s The People’s Charter, not the County Council’s Charter. Remind them of this by REJECTING the amendments.
FYI – the Reject Amendment 1 “campaign” is running independent of RejectAll3. It is run by volunteer citizens, which cannot be said about the “for” side which consists of:
The interim County Prosecutor, Mark Lindquist, who was just appointed by the county council.
Rick Talbert, who pulls a 75-G annual paycheck working directly for the county council.
Charla Neuman, a political consultant who worked for renegade County Councilmember Shawn Bunney in 2008 (paid $7,000, then donated $800 to Bunney).
Alex Hayes, who announced through the TNT looong before the committees were selected, that he would be managing the campaign for all 3 on the yes side. I questioned this then, and will again: Who chose him? Who pays him, and how much? How long has the yes side been working on this issue, while yet the no side couldn’t even begin until last month?It’s time to end the madness – REJECT ALL 3 AMENDMENTS!
I hope those public employees who want term limits to be extended are not campaigning during their publicly financed work day.
The Charter should be reviewed by and amendments proposed by a Charter Review Commission. This year, the County Council is recommending their own term limits be extended. The Charter Review Commission considered this possibility, but chose not to do it.
Reject all 3 amendments!
I was elected by the people of my district to be a commissioner for the last Charter Review. The question of extending term limits was disscused by us several times.
The public that came to the open meetings reported that they felted that it be not be in the best interest of the of the people of Pierce County to extend the term limits but to leave them as there are . Not the Council wants to admend the Charter to extend their term limits. Why do we have a Charter if the Council can put any thing on the ballet and change the Charter? Only in PIERCE COUNTY
The County Council should not be tinkering with the election system that puts them into office – it is a direct conflict of interest for Council members Bunney, Bush, Gelman, Lee, and Muri to vote themselves another $400,000+ in salary by extending their term limits to allow themselves to serve for 4 more years.
If the Council thought that the election systme seriously needed adjusting, they should have convened a new Charter Review Commission to make the appropriate changes.
If individual Council members care to demonstrate that they are not just rigging the system for their own personal gain, let each of them take a pledge not to serve a third term.
jte
Thank you, Commissioner Chase. I appreciate your service in supporting The People’s Charter. Same applies to all the 21 commissioners elected to serve on the 2006 Charter Review.
As an elected Commissioner of the Pierce County Charter Review Commission… it is my hope that all three County Council amendments are rejected by the voters of Pierce County. Why? Simply put we have a review every ten years by an elected Commission who serves “freely” without pay or advantages to evaluate the County Charter and the changes in the county and make recommendations to the voters of Pierce County.
This action taken by the County Council is perjoritive and not in line with the political and democratic processes layed out in “how the county is supposed to work”. The attempt to “short-circuit” the democratic process and democratic design is not in spirit of the present Charter.
Please exercise your vote and vote “NO” on the County Council Amendments.
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